Toy conveyer



May IS, 1954 LUCAS 2,678,717

TOY CONVEYER I5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 17,

May 18, 1954 Filed NOV. 17, 1948 B. M. LUCAS TOY CONVEYER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 18, 1954 a LUCAS 2,678,717

TOY CONVEYER Filed Nov. 1'7, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented May 18, 1954 TOY CONVEYER Benny M. Lucas, Frankfort, Ind.

Application November 1'7, 1948,

Serial No. 60,593

13 Claims. (Cl. 198- 73) This invention relates generally to toy conveyers or loaders, and more particularly to a miniature toy endless belt conveyer which is realistic in appearance and which may be employed to lift and convey granular materials with play eifect from a receiving hopper to a loading chute.

One object of this invention is to provide a simply constructed toy conveyer which is foolproof in operation and which may be compactly folded for packaging or storing.

Another object is to provide a toy conveyer which may be operated, if desired, without discharging the material conveyed but merely transferring it from a starting point to another point and then either discharging it there or invisibly returning it to the starting point.

Another object is to provide a toy conveyer which provides the appearance of conveying material from a hopper to a discharge point, but actually, if desired, conveys it back to the hopper again for continuous and repeated use.

Another object is to provide a toy conveyer which is adjustable to different lengths, no movable rollers or tensioning devices being required to maintain belt tension.

A further object is to provide a device which may be readily disassembled and reassembled by a child without damage to the parts in order to heighten the play value thereof and to allow for cleaning or tinkering when necessary or desired.

A further object is to provide a belt and drive arrangement for a conveyer which does not allow the belt to slip and maintains a tension on the belt at all times.

A further object is to provide a conveyer which will operate to convey a wide range of material in the same direction regardless of which direction the drive mechanism is rotated.

The invention is further characterized by a construction and arrangement of parts for added play value in cooperation with other toys such as tractors for towing the loader, wagons and trucks to be filled and cars to be emptied or filled.

Another object of a toy which is simple assemble, rugged in use and readily folded for packaging or storing.

Other and additional objects and advantages of this invention will present themselves to those familiar with the art on reading the following specification in conjunction with the drawings and the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the preferred embodiment of the conveyer of this invention;

this invention is to provide in construction, easy to Fig. 2 is a top view of the conveyer;

Fig. 3 is a side view of the conveyer in the folded position;

Fig. 4 is a side view showing the position of the discharge chute when the conveyer is operated so as to return the material to the hopper;

Fig. 5 is a view showing the drive roller and a portion of the belt;

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 8-4 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a side view of a modified embodiment;

Fig. 9 is a side view of the modified embodiment of the conveyer in an extended position;

Fig. 10 is a side view showing the parts of the modified embodiment just prior to the assembly of the extension element;

Fig. 11 is a section taken on 9; and

Fig. 12 is a section taken on line |2-| 2 of Fig. 8.

lhe preferred embodiment of the conveyer or loader 20 of this invention is shown in Figs. l-7. The conveyer 2% comprises a hopper 2|, an endless belt 22, a discharge chute 23, and means for supporting and driving the belt 22.

line i|-|| of Fig.

- The belt 22 is housed within a main frame or channel member 24 which also supports the hopper 2| and the discharge chute 23.

As shown in Fig. 7 the member 2d is in the form of a channel having outwardly diverging sides 25. The channel 2 has a uniform crosssection and is preferably formed by bending a piece of sheet material to the shape shown with the edges of the material folded outwardly and reversely, as indicated at 26, to provide greater rigidity and a beaded edge.

The sides of the lower end of the channel member 24 are cut away in order that the hopper 2| may be soldered or otherwise fastened thereto. The hopper 2| is also formed of a sheet of material preferably by stamping, the edges 25 being bent up and over to provide a smooth surface and the corners being soldered. A towing hock 26 or lunette is attached to the rear of the hopper 2| and serves as a means for attaching the conveyer 20 to a toy truck or pull string so that the unit may be towed.

The channel 24 is supported in the inclined position by a pair of foldable wheels 28 which are journalled on an axle 36. The axle 39 is supported by a. pair of struts 3| pivotally connected to the channel 24 by a pair of self tapping screws 32. A cross member 33 is riveted at its ends to each of the struts 3| and serves to prevent r0- tation of the wheels 28 counterclockwise beyond the position shown in which the cross member bears against the bottom of the channel 24.

Thus, the wheels 28 and struts 3| may be rotated from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the folded position shown in Fig. 3, the axle 30 being oifset as at 29 to brace the struts 3| and to allow the struts 3| to lie parallel to channel 24 when folded. The cross member 33 also limits rotation of the struts 3| in the folded direction. It will be noted that the device is very compact when folded the wheels 28 projecting only a slight distance below the channel 24. This makes the unit very easy to ship or store in a flat package.

By having the wheel assembly rotate towards the lower end of the conveyer 20, when folded rather than in the opposite direction, the assembly is not only readily foldable but the unit may be towed from the hopper end without danger of the wheels folding under or collapsing.

In the preferred embodiment the conveyor belt 22 is supported on an 35 which is removably received in the main channel 24 as shown in Fig. 7. The sides 36 of the channel 35 serve to support the top surface there of at a fixed height above the bottom of the channel 23. The cross-section of the channel 35 is uniform throughout its length except for the ends where the top portion is cut away to provide a space for the belt supporting rollers 37 and 38 which are journalled in holes provided in the extended ends 46 (Fig. 5) of the sides 36. The extends. ends 39 are preferably rounded to the same contour as the rollers 3? and 38 so as not to project beyond and interfere with the free movement of the belt 22 over the rollers.

The bottom roller 38 is journalled on a pin 4| which extends slightly beyond the sides 35 of the channel 35, the ends of the pin being peened over so as to hold it in place. The roller 31 at the upper end is rigidly attached to a manual crank .2 which is journalled in the extension 40 of the sidewall 36 and serves as an axle for the roller 3?. The outer surface of the roller 31 is preferably covered with sandpaper 43 cemented thereto in order to provide a friction surface for driving the belt 22. by turning the crank 42 which drives the roller 3? and causes the belt 22 to move in the direction of rotation.

The construction of the endless belt 22 is best shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The belt 22 is formed from a length of woven elastic tape or belting such as is used by clothing manufacturers in waist bands etc. Belts of solid rubber have been employed but he woven elastic type of material is preferable because of its higher resistance to tearing and the fact that a belt having more body may be employed. Furthermore, the appearance of the woven tape more nearly simulates that of a conveyer belt, and the ends may be stitched together to form the endless loop.

A plurality of equally spaced cleats or blades 53 are attached to the belt 22. The slats or cleats 53 are preferably formed of light gauge sheet metal bent so as to have an L-shaped cross-section and provided with sharp projections 54 which are inserted through the belt 22 and bent over to secure the cleats 53 thereto. The height of the upstanding portion of the cleats 53 is slightly less than the distance between the rollers 3'! and 38 and the bottom of the channel 24 so that the cleats 53 on the return movement ride along the bottom of the channel 24 and drag any material therein down the channel to the hopper 2|.

By using an elastic material for the belt 22 apinverted channel member 1.

The conveyor 20 is operated 4 7 edge of the chute plied tension is inherent in the conveyor belt which causes it to bear heavily against the sandpaper surface of the roller 31 against slippage. Furthermore, should the belt become jammed at either end or on the return flight the remaining portion will stretch readily as the handle 42 is cranked and the belt 22 will not be torn. Also by employing an elastic belt, tensioning devices such as a movable roller are not required and the assembly of the unit is greatly simplified in that the belt may be readily slipped on to the rollers and held in place by its own tension until the assembly is completed. A further advantage arises from the use of an elastic belt when it is employed in the modified embodiment as will be described later.

The crank 42, in addition to driving the roller 31, serves to support the adjustable discharge chute 23. This chute is preferably formed by stamping a sheet metal blank to give it the shape shown. 'A hole 46 is provided in each side of the chute 23 and serves as a means for pivotally suspending the chute 23 on the crank 42. In practice the easiest assembly procedure is to slip the belt 22 over the channel member 35 after the rollers, channel member 35 and chute 23 are assembled. To do this the roller 31 is inserted inside the channel member 35 and the chute 23 is brought into position so that the holes coincide with the bore of the roller 31. The crank 42 is then inserted through one of the holes 46 and the hole in the corresponding sidewall 36, and then pressed through the roller and through the other hole 46 and other side of the chute 23.

--, The protruding end may then be peenecl over, as

indicated at 4?, to prevent the detachment of the chute 23. The belt is then stretched and slipped into place to form a sub-assembly unit. When desired, a pulley wheel for a power drive I may be attached to the protruding end of the crank t2 instead of peening it.

The bottom portion of the upper end of the channel 24 is upset at the corners in order to permit the lip of the bottom portion to be bent downwardly, as indicated at 48, and the rear end of the chute 23 is bent upwardly, as indicated at 50, to cooperate therewith. When the chute 23 is rotated to the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4 the downwardly bent portion 43 makes contact with the upwardly bent portion 59 and seals the bottom of the chute 23. In order to hold the chute 23 in this position a pair of raised portions or projections 55 is provided one on either side of the channel 25 to snap out behind the rear 23 when raised to its upper position and prevent its dropping downwardly into its discharge position as shown in Fig. 1. The resilience of the material from which the chute 23 is formed causes the sides to press inwardly so as to bear against the sides of the projections 55! to lock the chute in the position shown in Fig. 4. When the chute 23 is intentionally rotated downwardly the sides thereof ride up the sides of the projections 5| permitting the chute 23 to be rotated until the portion 56 bears against the bottom of the member 24. Thus, the portion 56 serves as a stop to limit rotation in either direction in addition to sealing the bottom of the chute 23.

After the rollers 37 and 38 and the chute 23 have been mounted on the channel member 35, and the belt 22 slipped over the rollers so as to span the distance between them, the assembly is installed in the channel 24 by hooking the crank 42 in a pair of inclined slots 45 provided in the upper ends of the side walls of the member 26 and pressing the lower end of the belt assembly downwardly into the space within the channel 24 to the position shown in the drawing where it is held in place by the frictional force between the sidewalls 3t and the channel 25. This force is sumcient to hold the belt assembly in place yet permit it to be removed easily should it become necessary to clean the conveyor or should the child wish to satisfy his natural urge to see what makes it work. To remove the assembly all the child has to do is insert a finger under the roller 38 and pull upwardly.

The conveyor 20 is operated as follows: Sand is placed in the hopper 2|, the elongated shape thereof making it possible for a child to dump the sand in directly from a truck or to shovel it in with a toy shovel. The child then turns the crank in the clockwise direction as shown in Fig. 1 causing the upper flight of the belt 22 to move from the hopper to the discharge end. As each of the slats or cleats 53 passes around the bottom roller 38 it picks up a quantity of sand and carries it to the top of the conveyer. When the discharge chute 23 is set in the position shown in Fig. l the sand is thrown into the chute as the cleats 53 pass over the roller 45 and slides down the chute into a pile or waiting truck.

When it is not desired to discharge the sand the child merely rotates the discharge chute to the position shown in Fig. 4, in which position the sand is thrown into the chute 23 and slides back into the bottom of the channel 24 where it is picked up by returning cleats and dragged down the inside of the channel member 24 to be redeposited in the hopper 2 l. Thus, as the crank 4'2 is rotated the conveyer 2b appears to transport sand from the hopper to the discharge end but actually carries the same amount of sand back down the inside or" the channel member 24 to the hopper M. This is of particular advantage, for the toy may be played with inside of the house without discharging sand on the floor and still give the appearance of realistic operation.

v hen an electric motor, steam engine, or other power unit is used to drive the crank 42, the conveyer 29 may be operated continuously. The child merely moves the chute 23 to the discharge position when he has placed a receptacle beneath it and moves it to its raised position when the receptacle is removed. Were the automatic sand return arrangement not provided it would be necessary for the child to shut off the power unit every time he wanted to change receptacles.

In the event that the child rotates the crank E2 in the opposite direction, so that the upper flight moves from top to bottom, the unit will still convey sand from the hopper 2| to the chute 23, by carrying it up the inside of the channel 24. This occurs because the cleats 53 ride along the inside surface of the channel 25. If the chute 23 is in the folded or upper position the sand is not discharged but travels down the upper flight, while, if the chute 23 is in the inclined position the sand is discharged. Thus the conveyer 20 operates regardless of the direction the crank 42 is turned and may be worked with pleasing results by very young children.

A modified embodiment 20a of this invention is shown in Figs. 8-12, where like parts are given like numbers. The conveyor 26a difiers from the preferred embod ment in that its body is extensible to various lengths in order that the discharge end may be raised or lowered at will.

(iii

As shown in Fig. 8, the overall appearance of the two embodiments is similar. However, their construction differs in certain details. Instead of a unitary main channel member the body of the modified unit is formed of two channel pieces 50 and 6!, and the inverted channel member 35 is formed in two pieces with elongated face portions overlapping.

The cross-section of these members is substantially the same as that of the preferred embodiment except that the lower member Bil is slightly larger than the upper member 5i so as to telescope over the upper member, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11.

The member 6%! is provided with an elongated slot S2, and the member 6! is provided with a similar slot 83. The conveyer 20a is assembled by inserting the uppermost member it into the lowermost member and then attaching the struts 3! by the screws 320. These screws are preferably self tapping and are of such length as to extend to the inside edge of member 65. The inner ends or the screws 32a ride in the slots 63 and prevent the member (H from being rotated with respect to the member 60. A second pair of screws B l are threaded into the holes 65 in member Iii. These screws ride in the slots 62 when the conveyer 20a is assembled to hold the two members and El together and as stops which limit the movement of the member 5! in and out of the member 69. The screws also, when lowered and tightened, adjust and hold the two members in any desired position.

As already mentioned, the inner channel element of this embodiment is also made in two pieces. These pieces are identified as the upper one 86 and the lower one 61 and are made identical with an extension 3642 on the upper face of one piece overlapping a like extension G'ia on the other piece. The inner channels 555 and 5'! are of such lengths that the ends of the side flanges abut with one another when the conveyer is in its non-extended position.

The discharge end of the modified conveyer 20a is similar to that of the preferred embodiment except that the crank 52 is journalled directly in the sides of the member iii the inner channel 56 terminating short of the crank 42.

The other parts of the modified embodiment 20a are similar to those of the preferred embodiment and the operation thereof is the same outside of the fact that the modified embodiment may be extended to various different lengths. To vary the length of the conveyer 20s the child merely holds the member 50 and pushes or pulls on the member El to shorten or extend it. The flexibility of the belt 22 permits it to adjust itself to the various lengths.

Various features of the modified embodiment may be adapted and used in the preferred embodiment or vice versa. For example, the inner channel member 35 may be shortened in the preferred embodiment so as to terminate short of the rollers 3'! and 33 being permanently fixed in place. Similarly, the hopper 2i of the preferred embodiment may be held in place by the axle of the lower roller 38 extending through the side wall thereof rather than by soldering.

Other changes in modifi ations such as will present themselves to those familiar with the art may be made without departing from the spirit of this invention whose scope is commensurate with the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a toy conveyer the combination including an elongated body, a receiving hopper at one end of said body, an endless conveyer belt extending from said hopper to the other end of said body, a pivotally mounted chute at said other end of said body overlapping the upper end of the body in its pivotal movement and capable of being adjusted to two positions one of said positions being rectilinear-1y disposed with respect to said body to retain the material ascending said conveyer on chute, and a passage through said body extending from said chute to said hopper, material retained on said chute being conveyed through said passage to said hopper by the de scending portion of said belt.

2. In a toy conveyer the combination including an elongated inclined body, a reservoir at the lower end of said body, an endless conveyer belt extending from said reservoir to the upper end of said body, a discharge chute at said other end of said body capable of being disposable in two positions one of said positions being in angular continuation with said body, and the other being in angular descent inclination therefrom, and a passage in said body extending from chute to reservoir over which, material retained on said chute during its angular-continuation position is carried back to said reservoir by the descending flight of said belt.

3. In a toy conveyor having a endless belt housed in an inclined body, a plurality of slats on said belt, a passageway through said body for one flight of said belt, the other flight of said belt passing outside of said body, said slats being of such cross section that they span said passageway and a pivotally mounted chute at the upper end of said body overlapping the upper end of the body in all positions for material discharged from the conveyer belt and returning same to the bottom of the body through said passageway in one of its positions.

4, In a toy conveyor the combination including an elongated inclined channel member, a second smailer channel member received in the first mentioned channel member, th .cond member being inverted so as to define a passageway within the mentioned channel, an endless belt carried by said body, one flight thereof riding on top of said inverted channel member and the other flight passing through the passagewa a plurality of cleats carried by said belt, cleats being of such size as to extend the full width of the geway and a chute pivotal- 1y attached to the conveyor at the upper end of the inclined channel member, said chute being movable from a downwardly inclined position to a second position wherein the chute is upwardly inclined so as to cause material carried to the top of the conveyor by one flight of the belt to be returned through said passageway.

5. In toy conveyer the combination including an elongated inclined channel member having hopper at the lower end thereof, a second smaller channel member received in. the firstmentioned channel the second being inverted so as to define a rectangular passageway within the first-mentioned channel leading to said hopper, an endless belt carried by said body riding on top said inverted channel member and passing through the rectangular conduit, means at the top of said first channel member for selectively redirecting into said rectangular passageway material carried to the top of said first channel member by said belt on top of said inverted channel member, and a plurality of rectangular cleats carried by said belt, said cleats being of such size and shape as to extend the full width of the conduit and to ride along the bottom thereof to return to the hopper material carded up by said belt on the top of said inrte; channel member.

6. In a toy conveyer an elongated inclined channel member having a hopper at the lower end thereof, an endless belt supported by said member above the bottom thereof, a discharge chute pivotally attached to one end of said member, and means for retaining such chute in either of two positions, one position being such that the chute is inclined downwardly from said member so that material will slide down it and the other position being such that material carried to the top of the elongated channel member by the endless belt is recirculated therefrom back along the bottom of said channel member to said hopper.

'7. A toy conveyer comprising a hopper, an inclined body extending upwardly from said hopper, a passageway through said body terminating in said hopper, an endless belt supported by body, one length thereof passing through said passageway and the other length thereof riding on top of said body, and a discharge chute at the upper end of the body disposed so as to be fed by said belt, said discharge chute being adjustable to a discharging position and to a second position wherein the material. is not discharged but is deflected back down the passageway.

8. In a toy conveyor, a channel body, retractable means for selectively supporting said body in an inclined position, guide rollers at opposite ends of id body, a fiat elastic belt trained over said guide rollers and affording parallel upper and lower flight sections, a reservoir for granular material at the lower and supply end of said body, cleats carried by said belt for loading the belt in said reservoir and propelling charges of the granular material during its formation of the upper flight section of said belt, and for augmenting the return of the granular material over the channel bottom of said body during its forniation of the lower flight section of said belt, and discharge chute com ising a channel continuation to said body shift-.ble into descent inclination with respect thereto.

9. The combination set forth in claim 3 in whicl said chute is pivoted coaxial with the uppermost one of said guide rollers.

10. The combination called for in claim 3 in which the belt is made or" an elastic fabric and the inclined body comprises telescoping extensible members and includes means for varying the telescoping relationship of said members to vary the length of the conveyer and the tension upon said belt.

11. The combination called for in claim 3 in which the belt is made of an elastic fabric and including a drive roller supported by said body supporting and driving one end of said belt and another roller supported at the opposite end of said body for supporting the other end of the belt, one of said rollers having a friction surface and said belt being so supported as to be under constant tension.

12. The combination called for in claim 3 in which the belt is made of an elastic fabric and the inclined body includes a drive roller supporting and driving one end of said belt, another roller for supporting the other end of the belt, and means for varying the distance between said rollers to vary the length of said conveyer including a plurality of telescoping elements.

13. The toy conveyer defined in claim 8 including a pair of struts pivotally attached to said body, an axle supported by said struts, a pair of wheels journalled on said axle, said axle having an offset portion permitting the struts to be folded adjacent to said body, and stop means limiting rotation of said struts toward said body in the direction of said chute.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Number Date 215,818 Hough May 27, 1879 358,042 Ketch Feb. 22, 1887 490,171 Spencer Jan. 17, 1893 871,381 Wenzelmann Nov. 19, 1907 Number 19 Name Date Morenus May 25, 1909 Michener Nov. 28, 1911 Williams July 31, 1917 Rollefson July 24, 1923 Reid June 24, 1924 Boger Sept. 29, 1931 Krause Mar. 1, 1932 Owens et al Apr. 19, 1932 Tolf Dec. 5, 1933 Stephens July 9, 1935 Ruppenthal July 18, 1939 Neuman Feb. 18, 1941 Fulper Jan. 30, 1945 Smith Feb. 19, 1946 Woldring Nov. 2, 1948 

